Tag: Pisces
-
* review of natalie scenters-zapico’s the verging cities
This week’s poem, “After I Read Your Obituary,” is by fellow CantoMundista Natalie Scenters-Zapico. The poem comes from her collection The Verging Cities which I was fortunate enough to get to review for The Volta Blog. In my review, I focus on the phrase “Let me learn you how” (found early in the collection) as a key […]
-
* Francisco X. Alarcón: poem & review
Happy to share my latest review for the Volta Blog: a meditation on Francisco X. Alarcón’s latest collection, Canto Hondo. In my review, I discuss Alarcón’s engagement with Federico García Lorca’s ideas on cante jondo (deep song). Alarcón delves into García Lorca’s homage to his Andalusian influences to create his own deep song tempered by his own distinct poetic line, a line […]
-
* chapbooks celebration reading
As promised, I have uploaded another reading from our time in Texas back in April. I had hoped to share videos of me reading from both Corpus Christi Octaves and The Wall in order to celebrate their respective anniversaries. Sadly, the reading from the Octaves was severely crashed by seagulls and sun. The seagulls kept […]
-
* another excerpt from Reasons (not) to Dance
As promised, here is a second installment celebrating the release of my chapbook Reasons (not) to Dance! Above is another of the ink paintings by Andrea Schreiber that was nominated as a possible cover. This ink painting was specifically inspired by the piece “Spinster,” the text of which is below. Enjoy! Spinster – José Angel Araguz […]
-
* tribute: franz wright
Fathers – Franz Wright Oh build a special city for everyone who wishes to die, where they might help one another out and never feel ashamed maybe make a friend, etc. You who created the stars and the sea come down, come down in spirit, fashion a new heart in me, create me again- Homeless […]
-
gabriel garcia marquez: a lyrical alignment
This week’s poem is a lyrical alignment from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s prologue to his short story collection Strange Pilgrims. In his prologue – entitled “Why Twelve, Why Stories, Why Pilgrims” – Marquez details the journey of his stories, how some have traveled with him for years and others arrived unexpected. I remember marveling at the […]
-
* the 200th post: a cento
Well, it had to happen: we’ve reached the 200th post on this blog! To celebrate, I decided to create a cento – a patchwork poem made by selecting lines from other people’s poems to create a singular poem (citing one’s sources, of course) – by going through all the posts published since I started this […]
-
* stitching along with valerie wallace
I came across this week’s poem – “Winged” by Valerie Wallace – reading through the latest issue of Rust + Moth. I was taken in by the Auden reference to the “old masters” from his poem Musee des Beaux Arts. I find the reference suiting since the impetus for Wallace’s poem comes from Alexander McQueen, whom […]
-
* holding light & dark via brad leithauser
Some poems move me for their ability to hold contradiction and multitudes of possibility. This week’s poem, “A Candle” by Brad Leithauser, does just that. The phrasing starts in debate mode (“your point of view”) but quickly rises from it into suspended thought via imagery. Through the singular rhyme scheme’s quick turns, the poem leaves […]
-
* quick post: Blue Mesa Review Issue no. 30 up!
Just a quick post to announce the release of Blue Mesa Review’s Issue no. 30 which includes my poem “Don’t Look Now I Might Be Mexican” which placed 3rd in BMR’s Poetry Contest. Check out the poem (with audio!) here. This particular piece has been 10 years in the making. A lot of living and […]
The Friday Influence 